Liza Cumming wants to change the conversation around hidden differences
People leader Liza Cumming has spent her career championing workplace diversity and inclusion, so she was pleased when a recent LinkedIn post about invisible disability gained traction.
In a call for understanding and action, Cumming, who is the Retail People and Culture Lead for adidas Australia and New Zealand, pointed out that not all disabilities are visible.
“So before you rely on sight alone, ask yourself – do you ever really know what someone else might be carrying?” she wrote.
“We need to stop assuming disability is visible or that accommodation needs are a weakness. One of the most harmful misconceptions about disability is the belief that it means someone is "less than". But disability isn't about being less. It’s about facing barriers in specific areas of life – not across the board.”
Speaking to HRD, Cumming, who brings a personal perspective to this issue following her own neurodivergent diagnosis in recent years, said her post—and others like it— were part of a deliberate effort to increase conversations about neurodiversity and invisible disabilities.
“I think it’s important for our employees because they will come up to me in the office and they say, ‘I saw what you posted on LinkedIn, and I just want to say that I was diagnosed ADHD a couple of years back and it just makes me feel really safe seeing that messaging’,” she said.
“I think sometimes little things can make quite a big impact.”
Cumming will share her experience and insight on diversity and inclusion and psychological safety in the workplace at HRFutureFest Australia in Melbourne in October.
Other HRFutureFest speakers will include Bunnings Chief People Officer Damian Zahra, former Australian of the Year and body image advocate Taryn Brumfitt and Holly Ransom, CEO and Founder of Emergent Global Leadership Development.
Cumming said events like FutureFest were a great opportunity to hear other people’s experiences, what had worked for them and different insights.
“I think just talking about the diversity piece and if there is an opportunity to talk about neurodiversity as well, I think it's a topic that needs a little bit more focus and would be great to start talking more about that.”
Cumming believes there is still stigma around the need for support and accommodations in the workplace for neurodiversity and conditions such as ADHD and autism.
She said people understand physical disabilities because they can see it, but invisible disabilities can be discounted because a person may be accomplished in one area and appear to colleagues as not in need of support.
“Or the other way where they think, OK, now you're telling me you're disabled then I will take this work project away from you because you're not going to be able to handle it or we’ll have to give you easier work,” she said.
“There needs to be a lot more education around it because it's not something that people can inherently just understand just by seeing it. It has to be explained from the first-person perspective.”
Cumming believes increasing discussion will lead to better outcomes all round.
“I think if people are not openly disclosing what's happening then it can lead to a lot more exhaustion and burnout and a lot more issues for the person and the people around them,” she said.
“The people around them don't understand what they need and the person is working three times as hard under the surface trying to mask what is actually going on when they could just say, I need to have a day working from home so that I can have that downtime to be away from the high stimulation of lights and noise and other people.”
Cumming joined adidas attracted by its policies on diversity, inclusion, and focus on sport and wellbeing and became the retail HR manager for the brand's stores in Australia and New Zealand.
Supporting people and helping them reach their goals has been a consistent theme throughout her career, though she only began applying these skills in HR later in her working life.
After completing a degree in psychology and anthropology and a postgrad in special needs teaching, Cumming taught for several years before joining La Trobe University as an International Officer, helping overseas students.
Several years and jobs later she applied for a role at the university but was approached about a different job working in HR.
Her initial reaction was the work sounded too “businesslike”.
“It sounds silly now. I just didn't really understand what HR was initially. But as soon as I had the conversation with the manager and just talking about people and culture, I thought this is everything that fits with my skill set and interests,” she said.
Cumming soon moved into the mental health injury space and became interested in how psychological injuries could be prevented.
“I was seeing all these cases where it was so hard to get people back to work and I thought what can we be doing in terms of supportive work around psychology and preventative strategies.”
She pitched the idea of moving into the proactive space to a supportive manager who was also a psychologist and when COVID hit was able to roll out programs looking at psychosocial safety and risk mitigation.
“That's all come to the forefront now, but it was sort of quite new back then,” she said.
